A Livermore family continues to fight an unresolved legal battle to bring home deported husband and father Miguel Lopez, marked most recently by a status update affirming the authority of a U.S. District Court to process his case.
Originally from Mexico, Miguel Lopez had lived in Livermore with his wife and their three children — all of whom are U.S. citizens.
In May, Miguel Lopez was unexpectedly detained during a routine report to an immigration office in San Francisco. He was subsequently deported to Mexico where he remains today, Miguel’s wife Rosa Lopez told Livermore Vine.
His deportation — deemed “unlawful” by his attorney Saad Ahmad — sent a shock wave through the Lopez family, given Miguel’s ongoing pursuit of legal residency for over a decade. Additionally, he had been living in the U.S. for more than 27 years and worked at Wente Vineyards in Livermore as the main provider for his family.
In the months since Miguel Lopez was deported, members of the community have rallied to call for his return to the states.
In the most recent iteration of demonstrations, approximately 40 friends, family and supporters of Miguel Lopez gathered at the Phillip Burton Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in San Francisco on Oct. 30 for a brief, in-person rally followed by a virtual status update on Miguel Lopez’s case inside the courthouse.
“Miguel Angel Lopez is not a case file. He is a husband. He is a father. He is a grandpa. He is our neighbor and friend,” Granada High School educator Betsy Wilson said in a rally-time speech. “Correct the injustice. End the separation. Bring Miguel home!”
Prior to the Oct. 30 hearing, the United States attorney’s office filed a motion for the district court to dismiss Miguel Lopez’s case, based on its alleged lack of jurisdiction, Ahmad told Livermore Vine.
As part of the status update, attendees were informed that the motion was denied, Ahmad added. Judge Trina L. Thompson is presiding over the district court case.
Although the U.S. attorney’s offices may appeal, Ahmad described the district court’s decision as a “very good victory”.
“Now the case will be decided on the merits,” Ahmad added.
Miguel Lopez was first apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security in October 1996 near Otay Mesa, California, according to the Oct. 30 order. An immigration judge ordered his deportation shortly after and DHS removed Lopez from the United States.
In 1998, Lopez reentered the United States without inspection, the Oct. 30 order states.
By February 2007, he applied for adjustment of status with the Citizenship & Immigration Services. USCIS denied his application because he made a false claim to U.S. citizenship in attempting to enter the United States years earlier. Later that year the Department of Homeland Security initiated removal proceedings.
Miguel Lopez was later granted lawful permanent resident status but in 2014, the Board of Immigration Appeals overturned the decision and terminated Lopez’s removal proceedings due to a prior removal order.
DHS then shifted to reinstating the prior order from 1996, the Oct. 30 document states. An officer from Immigration and Customs Enforcement served Lopez with a notice of intent/decision in 2016 to reinstate the 1996 order.
Lopez does not challenge the reinstatement of the removal order, according to the Oct. 30 filing.Â
But Miguel Lopez never received a judicial review of the board’s decision, as he was entitled to, Ahmad contends. So Miguel Lopez seeks review of the board’s legal authority to terminate the separate removal proceedings.
Ahmad requests that the district court conduct the review.
Due to the government shutdown, Miguel Lopez’s next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 29, Ahmad said.
“You got a sense that she was kind of frustrated with the government shutdown,” Indivisible Tri-Valley organizer Ward Kanowsky said of Thompson’s disposition at the hearing.
To Rosa Lopez, the three-month period between hearings struck her as a lengthy wait — one that would mark the family’s first holiday season apart.
“I thought, going through these courts, it probably wouldn’t take so, so long,” Rosa Lopez said.
“We thought maybe we were going to get some good news,” she said of the hearing. “It’s just getting harder for him because he’s still not employed…right now he’s just trying to hang in there.”
Rosa Lopez maintains hope that a swift reopening of the federal government could push forward her husband’s hearing.
Among the family’s supporters, Rosa Lopez recognized educators as being crucial to helping her push through her husband’s deportation.
“The teachers are the ones who have gotten me this far and if it wasn’t for them, I probably wouldn’t even be fighting so much for Miguel’s case,” she said.
The U.S. Department of Justice said they were deporting criminals, Wilson said. But Miguel Lopez is not a criminal, she added.
“Miguel’s home is not Mexico, a place he has not lived in over 25 years. His home is in the Tri-Valley,” said fellow Granada teacher Laura Brown in a rally-time speech.
“We need a clear path and timeline forward,” Brown said after the hearing, noting his absence through Christmas. “We will bring Miguel home, but when?”
Editor’s Note: Embarcadero Media East Bay reporter Jeanita Lyman contributed to this story.
